Tech Bargain Hunting May Boost KOSPI

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 725 points or 8 percent. The KOSI now rests just above the 8,410-point plateau although it may find support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on concerns over the situation in the Middle East and on the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were barely in the red and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the financial, technology and automobile sectors.

For the day, the index plummeted 519.09 points or 5.81 percent to finish at 8,411.21 after trading between 8,126.84 and 8,861.70. Volume was 508.9 million shares worth 51.5 trillion won. There were 777 decliners and 111 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 3.07 percent, while KB Financial retreated 1.71 percent, Hana Financial tumbled 3.77 percent, Samsung Electronics surrendered 5.30 percent, Samsung SDI crashed 5.41 percent, LG Electronics stumbled 3.50 percent, SK Hynix plunged 8.36 percent, Naver declined 1.65 percent, LG Chem contracted 3.06 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 6.68 percent, SK Innovation slumped 2.51 percent, POSCO Holdings cratered 5.57 percent, SK Telecom shed 0.88 percent, KEPCO dropped 4.38 percent, Hyundai Mobis sank 5.17 percent, Hyundai Motor lost 4.47 percent and Kia Motors gave up 3.01 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday, peeked back above the unchanged line by midday but slumped again heading into the close.

The Dow shed 44.51 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 51,876.11, while the NASDAQ sank 60.99 points or 0.24 percent to close at 25,297.62 and the S&P 500 eased 3.47 points or 0.05 percent to end at 7,354.02.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came un the ambiguity surrounding the peace process in the U.S.-Iran conflict, while the earlier positive bounce was the result of sliding crude oil prices.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday as optimism increases on resumption of oil flow from the Arab region. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was down $2.60 or 3.62 percent at $69.32 per barrel.

In economic news, revised data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. rebounded slightly more than estimated in June. The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for June was upwardly revised to 49.5 from the previously reported 48.9.